Book Image

Mastering Linux Shell Scripting

By : Andrew Mallett
Book Image

Mastering Linux Shell Scripting

By: Andrew Mallett

Overview of this book

Shell scripting is a quick method to prototype a complex application or a problem by automating tasks when working on Linux-based systems. Using both simple one-line commands and command sequences complex problems can be solved with ease, from text processing to backing up sysadmin tools. In this book, you’ll discover everything you need to know to master shell scripting and make informed choices about the elements you employ. Get to grips with the fundamentals of creating and running a script in normal mode, and in debug mode. Learn about various conditional statements' code snippets, and realize the power of repetition and loops in your shell script. Implement functions and edit files using the Stream Editor, script in Perl, program in Python – as well as complete coverage of other scripting languages to ensure you can choose the best tool for your project.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Mastering Linux Shell Scripting
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Using awk ranges to exclude data


So far in this book, we have predominately looked at including data with ranges either for sed or for awk. With both of these tools, we can negate the range so that we exclude the specified rows. This suits the need that we have been using the output from lastlog. This will print all the login data for all the users, including accounts that have never been logged in. These accounts that have never been logged in might be service accounts or for new users that have not logged into the system so far.

The lastlog command

If we look at the output from lastlog, when it is used without any options, we can begin to understand the issue. From the command line, we execute the command as a standard user. There is no requirement to run it as the root account. The command is shown in the following example:

$ lastlog

The partial output is shown within the following screenshot:

We can see, even from this limited output that we have a cluttered output due to the virtual noise...